


home

by vnjc



Category: Naruto
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Recovery, its really cute and domestic, mentions of trauma, nightmares and bad days, obviously theyre traumatized but they are pulling thru!, slowly falling in love with your soulmate, what they deserved you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 22:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19913404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vnjc/pseuds/vnjc
Summary: “You’re gonna grow roots if you stay like this any longer,” Naruto says from his spot on the floor. It works, the memory’s buried again. Naruto looks happy, happier than before, the bruises from the Valley gone, his new arm foreign and pale against his natural skin colour, the sun on his face, ridiculous whiskers and all. He looks at Sasuke like he could tell a thousand stories about this moment alone. It’s overwhelming. There’s a shiver down Sasuke’s spine and he grips the water bottle a little tighter; he is known.they’re tired. they’re silly. they talk and they don’t. they’re together. post canon fix it.





	home

**Author's Note:**

> first naruto fic, made a new ao3 account just for this. happy birthday sasuke uchiha you deserved this.

morning

Sometimes, mornings go like this: Sasuke wraps his arm around Naruto’s waist and buries his head in Naruto’s shirt. His warm breath is a quiet and steady rhythm, which is enough to convince Naruto to go back to sleep, the dream half-forgotten, a memory of screams fading simply because of Sasuke’s presence. Naruto knows he could wake him up and try to talk about it, but for now, silence is enough. The sun is rising and they’re alive, despite everything. 

bad day

On some days Sasuke refuses to speak and recoils from any and every touch. Naruto understands and doesn’t ask. He takes a walk, taking in as much sunlight as he can, leaves a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku in the kitchen for Sasuke and can’t find it in himself to be angry. They’re both haunted and not every burden is lessened when they share it, sometimes the weight of the world is just as hard to bear together as it is alone. Still he tries, their eyes meeting across the room and finding themselves reflected; blue and black eyes both faded against the grey and purple shadows under them. It’s the kind of tired that sleep can’t relieve them from, a dull ache in every muscle that weighs them down with every step. There are things he’ll never know about Sasuke, even if he understands him better than anyone else will ever do. 

Maybe Naruto isn’t having as good of a day as he thought, he considers carefully, like acknowledging it is going to make everything worse. He’s so used to carrying on, pushing everything aside and ignoring the ache in his chest that he doesn’t recognize the sadness as his own, as if he’s just watching it. Sasuke’s eyes get distant again, his hand unconsciously clenching the mug of tea gone cold long ago, and something uncoils in Naruto’s chest, something long, drawn-out. He hurts, and Sasuke senses that somehow. He looks up, his stare blank, and Naruto feels like he understands this silence. He could get used to it one day. 

blind

The water is barely warm enough, but Naruto’s hands are careful enough for Sasuke to not feel like there’s going to be foam in his eyes. It’s almost too careful coming from someone who’s seen him at his lowest and still wanted to save him. 

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m not an idiot, I’ve done this before!”, Naruto grins, but still his hands move slowly, almost shy against Sasuke’s scalp. They’re both holding their breath, as if waiting to see who crosses a line first. It’s a good day, and so Sasuke takes a chance.

“My mother used to do this for me,” he says, so silent that no one but Naruto could ever hear this.

Naruto doesn’t reply, but if it’s even possible, he washes Sasuke’s hair even more carefully now. Not like he pities him, simply like he knows how much it means for Sasuke to trust him like this, shirtless with all his scars for Naruto to see. It takes much longer than necessary, but neither of them minds. Afterwards, Sasuke thinks, hair still drying and smelling of Naruto’s soap, _I could have this forever._ It’s terrifying.

Naruto nudges Sasuke with his foot. “You okay?” It’s a stupid question, because they’re not okay. They’ll never be okay. Sasuke clears his throat and nods. Naruto smiles. It’s easy. He could have this forever. 

cat

“What d’ya have there?”, Naruto asks, his orange shirt as blinding as ever. He’s walking in front of Sasuke and twirling the grocery bag, daring it to break. It will. It usually does. It’s sort of a ritual by now; they walk back to Naruto’s apartment, Naruto twirls the bag and Naruto picks the groceries up after they’ve left the bag. 

“Nothing.”

What betrays Sasuke in the end is a satisfied purr and a very content black cat rubbing against his legs, practically begging him to resume petting it. Naruto throws his head back and laughs so loud Sasuke’s afraid he might scare the cat away, but the two weeks he spent masterfully luring the cat closer and closer to the apartment pay off more than enough. Not only does she not run from them, she even picks her head up, as if trying to grasp Naruto as a concept. If Sasuke could warn against it out loud, he would, but the prospect of Naruto holding Sasuke’s words against him for at least a week isn’t that appealing. 

“You wanna keep it?”, Naruto asks, eyeing the cat. After some serious thought, all visible in the crease of his brows, he kneels to scratch the cat’s chin. Sasuke takes the sight in with his Sharingan for a few seconds, then disables it and kneels to join the fun. They must be a funny sight, a war hero and a criminal, rubbing a cat’s belly like children. They haven’t been children in a long time. Still, it’s fun. 

Sasuke rises first, drawing his hand away despite the cat purring and arching her back. “She’s a stray, I won’t force her to stay.” The word game is quite nice, Sasuke considers. As a child he liked his mother’s tongue twisters and nursery rhymes, the way everything had a double meaning and the world was a jigsaw puzzle. He always deciphered the code and the reward was always a loving embrace. What an odd train of thought, all because of a cat. “But we could feed her, you know. And the others.” 

Naruto’s eyes go wide, joined by a wild grin a split second later. “There are other strays?”, he says, the joke having gone fully over his head. Still, Sasuke smiles. 

plants

Sasuke wakes up and boils water for their morning tea. While waiting for the water to cool before he infuses the leaves, he checks in on the plants. Naruto usually lounges by the biggest window, taking in the sunlight and pretending not to watch Sasuke. They don’t talk much in the mornings. Sasuke usually ends up drinking from the bottle he waters the plants with, to which Naruto reacts with an _eww, don’t do that, the plants are gonna die from your morning breath,_ which Sasuke gracefully ignores. It’s graceful, really. The plants are a compromise, between Naruto’s _let’s take in a cat or a dog, I’m sure we’ll manage_ and Sasuke’s _we can’t take care of anything_. A lot of the things they do these days are compromises, and Sasuke remembers sitting on his mother’s knee and her hair tickling his cheek. _When you find somebody to live with, somebody to let in right here,_ she touched his chest right over his little heart, _you’re going to have to master the final, most important jutsu of them all._ Sasuke remembers that conversation even without his Sharingan, the playful glint in her eyes like she knew he was paying attention to her every word. _What jutsu, what jutsu, can Itachi do it? Can you do it?_ She ruffled his hair and kissed his neck. _It’s called… listen carefully, baby… compromise no jutsu_. _You have to learn to compromise, when to pull and when to push and when to do everything in between._ He huffed at that, with all the rage of a betrayed child. 

“You’re gonna grow roots if you stay like this any longer”, Naruto says from his spot on the floor. It works, the memory’s buried again. Naruto looks happy, happier than before, the bruises from the Valley gone, his new arm foreign and pale against his natural skin colour, the sun on his face, ridiculous whiskers and all. He looks at Sasuke like could tell a thousand stories about this moment alone. It’s overwhelming. There’s a shiver down Sasuke’s spine and he grips the water bottle a little tighter; he is known. 

dreams

Naruto always tries to wake Sasuke from his nightmares. In the night, the touch of his new arm is even more odd, shocking enough to jerk Sasuke back to reality. He forces his eyes to open, disables his Sharingan and tries to convince himself that there isn’t blood on his hands. He’s choking on every breath. It’s not a good night. Of course there isn’t blood on his hands; it’s seeped into his bone marrow by now. 

Naruto keeps his distance, wary of hurting Sasuke somehow, with that childish look of frustration and grief and rage all at the same time, like he could punch through the wall and make those who hurt Sasuke pay for everything they’ve done. They don’t talk about their dreams. 

Naruto’s nightmares are harder to spot. In their genin days Sasuke has been surprised at that; for a boy so loud and obnoxious to be so quiet during the dreams that obviously haunt him. Then again maybe Sasuke hasn’t been the best at reading people at the time, because of course Naruto acts unbothered. Sasuke knows now, though, knows Naruto like he’ll never know anything else in this world. The fear is there, in the nervous jerk of his legs, his hands gripping the sheets tighter, a whimper of pain, barely there but it wakes Sasuke up nonetheless. They hardly sleep through the whole night, anyway, it’s usually like this: either of them wakes up from a nightmare, the other is usually awake by then, stirred by noise or movement. They don’t talk about it, but don’t pretend to go back to sleep either. Sometimes Naruto makes tea and they sit by the window, shoulders barely touching, and recall some stupid story or another, and it often works well enough to keep their thoughts at bay. The question sits unsaid between them, anyway; _is this forever?_ Weeks pass, wounds heal and the dreams stay. They’ve both had them for years, but it’s no comfort at all.

fun

They fold the sheets together, not because Sasuke can’t do it on his own (which he can do, he assures with an annoyed huff that doesn’t fool Naruto but they let it pass), but because it’s fun to do it together. It’s fun to hang their laundry together on the tiny balcony and watch Naruto attempt to dry it with his wind release, and it’s even funnier to watch Naruto chase after his precious underwear that he sent flying with his out-of-control ninjutsu. Sasuke sits on the chair they brought out of the kitchen in a last-minute attempt to declutter their living space and when Naruto is out of sight, he allows himself to smile. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time that they realize ninjutsu isn’t always the best answer, but at least it’s relatively harmless, save for the underwear they’re gonna have to hand-wash again. At least they don’t have to frantically put out the fire they produced last week, when Naruto insisted Sasuke use a fireball jutsu to light the gas stove. They overestimated the amount of chakra they would need and had it not been for their quick reaction, Naruto would have had to do without his shirt and Sasuke without his eyebrows, not to mention the dishcloth. Their teamwork was impeccable, though. 

pet

The first time around, it’s kind of ridiculous when Naruto brings a frog-shaped lamp into the apartment. It’s in a bizarre shade of green, covered in little cheap gems, the frog’s mouth open and red. Its eyes stare at Sasuke, lifeless and unnatural. It’s ugly. Sasuke decides he doesn’t like it but doesn’t want to crush Naruto’s spirits. Naruto’s mouth is open just as wide as the frog’s that Sasuke didn’t Chidori it on spot. Afterwards, Naruto takes it as a hint to bring in as many as he can. “Look, this one has a string you tug on to turn it on! And this one has an on and off switch!” They’re annoying and obnoxious, kinda like Rock Lee who Naruto is slowly turning into with all his frog-lamp talk. Replace _frog lamp_ with, like, _vigor_ or _youth_ and there you have it. Sasuke points it out over dinner with a cruel satisfaction, which makes Naruto choke on the carrot that he helped chop himself. Maybe it wasn’t so finely chopped then. Alas, Naruto has found his calling in frog lamp collecting. 

“One question. And we won’t mention it again. Where do you even get them?”, Sasuke asks one day, hunched over the basin, trying to get a stain out of Naruto’s favourite shirt. Naruto’s right beside him, ready to splash soap around as soon as Sasuke’s done.

“Get what?”, Naruto deflects. Then, by sheer soulmate telepathy or maybe because there’s a frog lamp in the bathroom too, he makes an _oooh_ in silent realization. “There’s this corner shop with really cheap stuff, since, y’know, the war. People gave a lot of personal stuff away. Didn’t wanna look at the memories. Anyway, so,” he clears his throat, “apparently someone in Konoha really liked frogs, too! There’s a lot of them. And I wanted them to have a home, too. Like us.”

There’s a sharp pain in Sasuke’s chest suddenly, like his heart has grown too big for his chest. “Okay,” he says because he can’t find any other words, and still this one barely made it through his tight throat. 

One afternoon, when Sasuke has spent most of the day outside, barely hidden from the main street, playing with the strays they’ve been feeding, there’s a surprise back in the apartment. Sasuke stands in the kitchen doorway, cat hair all over him, and eyes the package suspiciously. They don’t invite people over, nor do they (Naruto) really get gifts.

There were never gifts for Sasuke, the murderer, the criminal, the terrorist. The pardon might’ve cost Naruto the council’s trust and his chances as Hokage, but the people of Konoha hadn’t forgotten about him at first. Baked goods here, a good luck charm there, and then the gifts stopped. Everyone came to terms that they had simply deserved to be saved, no matter if the price was a hundred or a hundred thousand lives. Sasuke doesn’t like to go out alone, people stare at him angrily and he stares right back. He wishes they remembered the kid they shunned out, the one everyone ignored, not the war hero who saved the world.

The gift must be from Naruto, because only Naruto would see an ugly, vaguely snake-shaped lamp and think, _I’m going to get it for Sasuke._ No words describe its thin, green-ish body but ‘ugly’. It looks like a snake, half-curled on the ground, half-straightened as if to attack. There’s a lightbulb in its mouth, which makes it even more ridiculous. All alone in the apartment, with Naruto gone to catch up with Sakura over tea, Sasuke looks at the snake lamp and laughs. 

  


heart

The nights begin to get warm, but they still spend most of them tangled together, so close that sometimes Sasuke can’t tell where he ends and Naruto begins. Maybe that’s what life is about, the calm puffs of Naruto’s breath against his shoulder and his steady pulse right next to his own. Sasuke would never say it out loud, but he imagines their hearts beating in perfect unison, an eternal rhythm that set the universe in motion. Whenever he’s with Naruto, which is almost always, Sasuke’s heart feels too big for his chest, pressing against his throat and making him feel lightheaded. It pulls him back to reality, pushes him out of his nightmares and it’s too good to be true. He’ll take what he can get for as long as he can. 

“It’s too hot, Sasuke,” Naruto mumbles and shuffles a little bit, visibly fighting the urge to blow a raspberry on Sasuke’s neck. It is hot, but Sasuke isn’t letting go if he can help it; he’s grown fond of sleeping so close to Naruto, almost to the point of being clingy. Most nights he toes the line. 

“It’s your fault, you damn furnace.” It’s only half true, because it takes two to cuddle. Naruto lets it go. 

stars

Nothing they ever did could top this; the only visible downside is that they’re gonna have to wash the sheets in the morning because they’re going to get dirty from the balcony, but that’s not a problem for the current Sasuke and Naruto. For now, they’re as comfortable as it gets, pressed together against the wall, watching the stars and talking in hushed tones. The balcony chair had to be taken back into the kitchen or else they would have even less breathing space. There’s a thought along the lines of _maybe this place is a little too small for us, maybe the next one should be bigger_ in the back of Sasuke’s head, but he squishes it back. It’s not the time for this.

It’s late, considering how high the moon is on the sky. If they keep this sleep schedule up, they will become nocturnal animals by the end of the year. Sasuke wouldn’t mind; the night is theirs alone, no one dares disturb the universe and they can release the breath they’ve been holding all day. It wasn’t a bad day, just- unremarkable, passing by in a sort of uncomfortable silence neither wanted to break. Some days they just have to go through the motions and crawl into bed as soon as possible. It’s easy, though, to be next to Naruto like this. It wasn’t always easy. It was never easy. 

“The sky is so bright, I wish we’d done this sooner, look at all these stars,” Naruto says, grinning, and if Sasuke was a sap he’d think something like _his smile is brighter than the stars_ , but instead he activates his Sharingan and lets himself remember this moment forever, the nightsky above them and the soft sheets between them. And if Naruto’s smile is really brighter than the stars, Sasuke doesn’t say it. Naruto is used to the red flashing in Sasuke’s eyes many times now, both on good days and on bad nights, so he doesn’t say anything, either.

Naruto suddenly gasps, excitement rolling off him in waves. His sudden movement, how he perches up without warning, doesn’t make Sasuke flinch anymore. “Look, a shooting star!” Of course there’s a shooting star on a night like this. Sasuke doesn’t hold back the smile at the corner of his lips anymore, and Naruto smiles even brighter at that. “Make a wish?”

They’re both waiting for something, Sasuke can tell. It’s in the way he can feel their hearts beating out the exact same rhythm, the nervous pulse behind Naruto’s fingertips as he reaches out to touch Sasuke’s face. They breathe together, _in_ , _out_ , and Sasuke finally leans in for the kiss they’ve seen coming. Naruto tilts his head slightly, his hands adjusting to cup Sasuke’s face better, and it’s perfect. It tastes a little bit like the dinner they made and ate together and a lot like- _home_. 

Sasuke’s home. Laughter bubbles in his chest and he’s grinning so hard that they have to break the kiss, Naruto’s thumb tracing his tears of relief. They rest their foreheads together and Naruto tears up too, and they stay like this until they kiss again. And again. And again. Unbeknownst to them, another shooting star lights up the sky, but they wouldn’t wish for anything more than this, anyway. 

home

They don’t go out much, which neither really complains about. Besides the grocery runs and the occasional dinner at Ichiraku’s, Sasuke and Naruto have everything they need in the cramped and messy apartment. It isn’t much more than any other government-issued housing, but it’s theirs _._ They share it, from the frog-shaped lamps in the living room to the half-burnt dishcloths by the kitchen sink and the rumpled black and once-orange-but-accidentally-dyed-black shirts on the floor and it makes all the difference in the world. It’s theirs and only theirs, with the blinds drawn and the doors locked and Naruto’s laughter and Sasuke’s silence.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you thought, comments and kudos keep writers motivated:) i have a [tumblr](https://sasdyke.tumblr.com)
> 
> references and other misc things!  
> [frog lamp](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wangjk.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/frog-lamp-ebay.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wangjk.me/frog-lamp/&h=480&w=480&tbnid=GyvZYMB9RR1GKM&tbnh=225&tbnw=225&usg=K_VlfkV4cu7AmBrykEWAJAwvo_r2s=&docid=U3w4CnUwtfaqsM&itg=1)
> 
> [snake lamp](https://images.app.goo.gl/tguwAi7FecAEPcnA6)
> 
> [sns crying and kissing 🥺](https://uzumakinindo.tumblr.com/post/105860986366/its-5-am-and-im-crying-about-naruto-crying-while)
> 
> big shoutout to dani [milfnaruto](https://milfnaruto.tumblr.com) for listening to me scream and cry abt these two. honestly shoutout to everyone in the discord! we are all galaxy braining and smarter than kishi. and of course one big gay thank you for sasuke uchiha once again. happy birthday


End file.
